Theme: Mobilizing Green Investments to Africa

The office of GGGI Senegal led by Assana Magagi-Alio, Country Representative and supported by Mamadou Konate, Country Program Lead have hosted the 2022 GGGI Africa Regional Retreat from 27 June to 3 July 2022 at the Novotel hotel in Dakar. The retreat brough together the leadership of the region, with the objective of enhancing collaboration between the country offices and the regional office, to streamline synergies towards a cohesive and effective delivery of the Regional Strategy 2030.

With 94 GGGI staff across Africa , the Africa Region has a portfolio of  projects in Green Investments ( 5 ) ,Solar PV ( 3 ) ,Waste Management ( 3 ) ,Sustainable Mobility ( 2 ) ,Climate resilient agriculture ( 1 ) ,Sustainable Forests ( 1 ) ,Green Buildings ( 1 ) ,Green Industries ( 1 )

The guest participants GGI Country Representatives  from different country offices included Dr Malle Fofana – Regional Director and Head of Programs, Africa; the Country Representatives of Ethiopia Mr Gemedo Dalle Tussie  ; Country Representative of Cote d-Ivoire Ms Olola Vieyra ; Country Representative of  Togo, Ghana and Benin   Mr Innocent Kabenga ; Country Representative of Rwanda Mr Okechukwu Daniel Ogbonnaya; Country Representative of Uganda Ms Dagmar Zwebe ; Deputy Country Representative of Burkina Faso Ms Laura Jalasjoki ; Nagnouma Kone – Senior Regional Business Development Officer and Sidonie Kouam – Climate Finance & GCF Program Manager all arrived on June 25th and 26th and were lodged at the Novotel Dakar.

On June 27, 2022, the guests participants arrived at the Ministry Environment and Sustainable Development for a courtesy meeting with the Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development and his Chief of Staff. This was an opportunity for the Minister to expand collaboration with the GGGI country team and make recommendations for collaboration in resource mobilization and preparation for COP 27. The meeting has held for an hour, after which, the guests participants had a Meet and Greet with the Senegal Country program Staff. Each PM presented his Project with a Q&A session. The session also aimed to share similar experiences in other countries and to find prospects for synergy for scaling up. Lunch was held at the Radisson hotel before going forth with the Agenda for the day. The afternoon was to meet partners such as BOS PSE and Haské Ventures.

The delegation of the Country Representatives and Africa Regional Director meeting with the BOS PSE had an objective to take stock of the structuring of the program on achievement of the structuring process of the Green PSE now completed: with 29 projects including, 15 private, 9 public and 5 PPPs for more than 340 billion XOF, 10 key reforms to accelerate Senegal’s green growth.

The meeting with Haské Ventures was for the signing of the MOU on Green Entrepreneurship and Green Growth Cooperation between Dr. Mallé Fofana, Africa Regional Director and Madam Madji Sock President of Haské Ventures, a venture builder for Francophone. The purpose of the present Memorandum is to provide a general framework for cooperation and to facilitate strategic partnership and close collaboration between the Parties in support green and inclusive job growth by supporting entrepreneurs (particularly women and youth) to develop their green and sustainable business, contributing to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and Paris Climate Agreement, building on their comparative advantages and ensuring their complementarity and mutual reinforcement. On the same day, the team had dinner at Le Lagon 1 with invited guests as Mr. Baba Drame (Current Director of the Environment and former GGGI Senegal as PM of the Waste Management project), Mr. Cheikh Ndiaye Sylla (director of Cabinet of the Ministry of Environment) and Mr. Malick Ndiaye, the Bank Agricole Director (a current MOU is underway).

On June 28 & 29, 2022. The team was divided into three (3) groups:
• Group 1: A delegation of CRs from Côte d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Rwanda, Togo-Benin-Ghana accompanied by the PM of the Qatar Project and the technical lead of the Rice Fields Energy Audit Project visited the Senegal River Valley on 28 and 29 June 2022. The objective was to meet the implementing partners of these two projects, to visit the pilot sites and discuss with the beneficiaries and to draw some lessons from these experiences.
• Group 2: A delegation with the CR from Uganda along with the PC of the Waste Management Project and Sanitation Officer visited Touba and Tivaoune. The objective was to meet the implementing partners of the project, to visit the pilot site and discuss with the beneficiaries and to draw some lessons from different experiences.
• Group 3: The investment Team led by the Dr. Mallé Fofana continued to meet several partners and potential partners such UNWomen, LDC Chair, UNIDO Loi, Korean Embassy, Ecobank and G5 & Ivory Coast. There was a meeting with Ms. Madeine Diouf Saar, who is the National Designated Authority for GCF to discuss access and collaboration of Green Climate Finance.
On June 30 and July 01, 2022: The team had 2 full days working sessions with other GGGI staff participating online. This was to discuss ongoing work with the Africa Global Program, the portfolio of each and current risks and challenges, prospects.
There was additional meetings and an MOU signing with CORAF/WECARD (West and Central African Council for Agricultural Research and Development).
On July 02, 2022: the team has a fun team building adventure at Acrobaobab were each one of them brought out their athletic side which concluded the end of the CR retreat.
On July 02 & 03, 2022: The guests participants went back to their respective countries with a successful retreat.

Authors: Adama Hawa Diallo and Mamadou Konate,